"Thump... thump... thump,"
Clyde, who previously couldn’t hear his own heartbeat, could now clearly hear the sound of his heart inside his chest, pounding like a police officer banging on a door to catch a suspect, hoping to break it down. Moreover, the rhythm of his heartbeat grew increasingly rapid alongside the melody in his head, which was also playing fast, when suddenly, "yaaaaaaah," Clyde, who previously had no voice, suddenly screamed out from enduring the excruciating pain.
After that, a brilliant light enveloped Clyde’s entire body, forcing all the soldiers to shield their eyes. Every inch of Clyde was coated in a black, slime-like liquid that turned his entire skin glossy black, making him look as if he were wearing black armor with red, lava-like lined joints; his eyes grew into large red orbs, his mouth was covered by a sort of black mask, and his hair seemed to harden into a helmet of sorts.
The pair of wings on his back, which initially looked like torn moth wings, split into four separate moth-like wings, each bearing a red eye pattern. When the light faded, the soldiers opened their eyes and gasped in shock; standing before them was no longer a skinny, teenage boy with pale zombie-like gray skin, red veins, and strange wings on his back, but a man clad in black biological armor with flowing red lines and a red glowing chest core that looked like a luminous organ, venting white steam from its joints as he stood hunched over.
"Graaaah!"
"Blam!"
Before the soldiers could react, an explosion and the roar of a wild beast erupted behind them; the soldiers spun around, and off in the distance, a massive dog-like creature with spine-like fur, dorsal horns, gray skin dotted with red spots, and a long, spiked whip-like tail came into view, but what proved truly staggering was its scale, standing roughly thirteen feet tall, it was charging fiercely straight toward them.
"Oh no... Tier-1 Nephilim Beast: Ravager... the guard dog is here... everyone assume battle positions... fire... fire!" yelled a commander.
All the soldiers turned away from Clyde and opened fire without hesitation, but the Ravager seemed completely unbothered, plowing forward and smashing through empty pods around it; then several soldiers carrying bazookas stepped up to the front line, firing immediately, and "blam," bazooka rockets struck the Ravager’s head and torso, causing it to halt and shake its head like a dog struck by a thrown stone, before it growled and resumed its charge toward the troops.
"Retreat... retreat!" the commander screamed.
But it was too late; before the soldiers could fall back, the Ravager suddenly leaped high into the air, poised to pounce on the fleeing troops below. Shrouded in the dark shadow cast by the massive beast, the soldiers completely gave up hope, each of them likely recalling their entire lives up to this very second.
Some even dropped to their knees in resignation, while others lowered their weapons, knowing that once the Ravager landed, they would all be dining in hell tonight. Just as all hope evaporated, suddenly "swooosh," a reddish-black shadow shot forward, "graaaaah," the shadow slammed straight into the airborne Ravager, knocking it backward and sending it flying away from the pods holding the people behind them.
"Boom!"
The soldiers stared ahead, utterly stunned to see the transformed Clyde standing tall before them, positioned right in front of the Ravager as it scrambled to get back up.
"Huh... my body moved on its own?" Clyde thought, staring at the terrifying, giant canine beast in front of him.
"Skraaaaaah!"
The Ravager lunged at Clyde, swinging its claws in a vicious arc, but Clyde perceived every second of the creature’s motion, dodging backward so the claws swished right past his face; then he noticed the Ravager shifting its hips as its whip-like tail began to rise, a sudden flash of insight striking Clyde’s mind, revealing where the incoming blow was headed and what attack would follow next.
Without overthinking, entrusting everything to his heightened perception, Clyde leaned his body back while bracing himself on both feet, letting the Ravager’s tail swipe pass right over his face and upper torso,
"Wow... nice," Clyde murmured inside his head.
Suddenly, two eyes on his right wing caught the Ravager’s head turning to snap its jaws toward him from the side, "tap," Clyde evaded the biting attack by rolling to the side, causing the Ravager to bite empty air; then Clyde, having stood back up, looked around in confusion, staring down at his hands, making a fist and opening it again. Next, he unfolded his right wing, and his field of vision broadened as the eyes on the wing expanded his vision radius to the right; he then tried the same with his left wing, unfolding all his eyes until a whole new world opened up, allowing him to see his entire surroundings split across six perspectives in a sensation that felt completely novel to him,
"So that’s how it works," he murmured in his head.
"Skraaaaaaah!"
The Ravager charged again, swinging its claws in another wild strike, but this time, with terrifying speed, Clyde suddenly darted forward and "boom," delivered a crushing uppercut to the Ravager’s jaw, snapping its head upward with its mouth slammed shut, before Clyde leaped into the air and landed a spinning kick against the side of the creature’s head, sending the Ravager crashing to the ground.
Seeing his enemy down, Clyde leaped up and stomped heavily onto the Ravager’s body, bringing a howl of pain from the beast, and without wasting a moment, he repeatedly tore into its abdomen until he punched a gaping hole into it, yanking several internal organs straight out; suddenly, an indescribable sensation washed over Clyde, and his mouth, which had been sealed tight like a mask, split wide open with saliva dripping over rows of razor-sharp teeth,
"Chomp!"
Without consciously realizing it, Clyde began devouring the Ravager’s innards ravenously, blood drenching his entire body as a strange feeling bloomed inside him, a sense that something previously stripped away from him was finally returning. He also felt an instinct telling him that this was what was normal for him. In this moment, he felt truly alive and no longer empty, as if he had finally discovered where he truly belonged,
"Strange... this feeling is strange... but... I like it... and for some reason... I feel happy and alive right now... but still... I don’t get it... was my life in that city... with my dad and mom, Monica, Tyler, and Kate... all a lie?" Clyde said in his head, experiencing a profound mental awakening.
The soldiers witnessing the entire scene froze in dead silence, their faces reflecting a bizarre conflict, unsure whether to feel grateful for being saved by their apparent savior, or terrified of a strange creature that was clearly far stronger than their enemy and posed a horrifying threat to their future. Meanwhile, Clyde continued tearing open the Ravager’s belly and eating ravenously, looking for all the world like a fish that had spent far too long on dry land, finally returned to the sea.